Boil-water advisory takes toll on Wichita businesses, forcing closures & shortages

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Wichita’s boil-water advisory affected hundreds of establishments such as schools, hospitals and restaurants across the area.

Some coffee shops and restaurants have been forced to close, and some grocery stores are running out of bottled water as people stock up in case the advisory lasts longer than a day or two.

Losing even one day of customers can hamper some businesses for days or weeks, and many owners and workers are eagerly awaiting reopening.

“There’s literally ... no pallets (of bottled water),” shopper Ashley Sims said on Wednesday. Usually there’s pallets -- there’s zero. The floor is bare. So all that was left, we didn’t have any choice. You either bought this or you go home and boil some water.

While some businesses felt the rush, others sat empty.

“It’s very quiet, said Nicole Mullen from Sunflour Cafe and Collective. ”We’re a small business, so every customer that comes through the door is instrumental to us being able to stay open.

“So, yeah, having the chairs on the table and us looking like a ghost town is not ideal.”

Mullen is one of many business owners forced to close during the advisory. Because without water, normal business can’t be conducted.

“Especially if they want to have an iced coffee,” Mullen said. “Because you can’t use the ice from the ice machines, so the iced coffee is out the door. It’s very important to me that we’re looking out for the best interests of our patrons and making sure their health is priority.”

That leaves Mullen to hope the issue is fixed sooner rather than later.

As of Wednesday afternoon, other businesses were working through the decision of whether to open on Thursday, as it’s unclear when the advisory will be lifted.

“Until it’s resolved I have no choice but to continue to stay closed,” Mullen said. “And I’m just hopeful that our customers will come in and support and make up for those ... days that we had to be closed.”

The boil water advisory has slowed production for some Wichita restaurants, including Greater Grounds Coffee, according to owner Byron McSwain.

McSwain said the advisory made operations slower and frustrating for employees, but the business continued to operate safely.

“It was a slower operation, it was frustrating for my employees, the baristas, but at the end of the day, we operated safely,” McSwain said.

McSwain said the slower operation is still better than closing for a day.

“Every day counts. You know, a small business, if you lose a day of business, those customers don’t come back,” McSwain said.

However, not all businesses have struggled during the advisory. Nortons Brewing Company said it has been able to stay open because its beer brewing process already boils water, according to bartender Ronnie Turley.

“The process it takes to brew the beer, we have to boil every batch before we can even make the beer. And so the water is very clean,” Turley said.

He said staying open makes a difference.

“How everything is nowadays, you don’t know what’s going to happen, so it’s nice to still have this day to come in to work and have the money I can make from it, because who knows, if I didn’t have to work today I don’t know what I would’ve done,” Turley said.